For the first few years of my blog, I only planned my posts out about a week or two in advance unless I had something special coming up. Eventually, I realized I needed to have a more organized schedule. Since I tend to be pretty particular about these things, I went ahead and designed my own editorial calendar so I could get exactly what I wanted.

I recently shared a picture of my editorial calendar at a BlogPawsChat on Twitter and it had a lot of interest, so I decided to share it here. The printable file shared here is sized to fit a planner, but you could recreate it in any size using the same methods.

The calendar itself is about as simple as can be. I created it in Word and sized it to fit my Franklin Covey Compact planner which is 6.75″ x 4.25″. I simply change out the dates before printing each month’s calendar.

To place blog posts, I use removable Avery labels (which can be re-stuck multiple times). They are sold under a couple of different numbers, just make sure you get ones that are 1/2″ x 3/4″ if you’re printing my calendar. These fit perfectly inside the boxes.

I’ve heard you can run these labels through your printer to color them, but I use the low-tech method of coloring them with a Sharpie. I use three different colors for my blog: purple for Lifestyle posts, blue for Pet posts, and green for Sponsored or Review posts. This way I can see at a glance if I have too many of one type of post clumped together.

If I have a post I know I want to post that month, but I’m not sure where, I will place it into one of the blank boxes until I find a place for it. This is great for posts that are already basically done, or will be quick to create, to fill in when you don’t have other content.

Since you can peel up and restick these labels as many time as you need, I can play around with my schedule at will. Also important if you have a last-minute idea come up and need to shift things around.

If you’d like to print my template, click the link below for a Word file*. Just be sure to change the dates to the appropriate month, or delete the numbers altogether if you’d rather write them in. *I normally export as a PDF after changing the dates because I like the printing options better.